Stranger in his Homeland

Stranger in His Homeland completes the long-awaited trilogy of Linus Asong's fictitious village of Nkokonoko Small Monje, separately treated in The Crown of Thorns and its sequel A Legend of the Dead. However, it leads us back not to events after A Legend of the Dead, but to the crisis that created the passionately exciting The Crown of Thorns. Honest, enthusiastic, arrogant and self-righteous, Antony Nkoaleck, the first graduate of his tribe means well. But his society, entrenched in corruption, sees things differently and therefore judges him according to its own norms. Just one or two errors on Antony's part are enough to cost him his job with the government, the coveted throne of Nkokonoko Small Monje, and finally his life. It is a sad story, strongly reminiscent of Myshkin's fate in Dostoevysky's novel The Idiot, a story in which the Russian novelist vividly shows the inability of any man to bear the burden of moral perfection in an imperfect world.

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Content

Part One

Chapter One

The death of Chief Fuo-Ndee and the decision that Antony
would succeed him had been received by the District Officer
of Small Monje as a welcome blessing. While the old Chief
lived, there was always conflict...

Chapter Three

Even though Beckongncho was a young man in whom the
Elders had absolute trust, and even though he assured them
all that the document was genuine, the old men refused to
believe what their ears had heard...

Part Two

Chapter Four

The night Antony returned to Likume from studies abroad
two years ago, nobody could have thought that he would
end this way. Not even he himself. He was everybody’s idol,
a god in his own right.
He knew by instant intuition as he sought his uncle’s house that
night that year that the Likume...

Chapter Five

Antony spent the few hours left before dawn in Anuse’s room.
At about 8 o’clock, the following morning he woke up, being
roused from his short sleep mainly by the noises of the
visitors. He took exquisite care not to meet Anuse alone. So he
mixed with the friends who came...

Chapter Six

Antony’s premature return from Ghana hurt Anuse severely.
His refusal to submit to Anuse’s code of conduct angered
him, making him less and less anxious to talk to Antony or
think of him with the kind of pride he had done previously. But
this did not deter him from...

Chapter Seven

Relatives and friends poured in daily to greet Antony. Anuse
spoke to him on Thursday. On Friday, he was visited by
three gentlemen – Eru, Nchindia and Beckongncho. They
were all from the Biongong tribe. Several years ago they had been
either classmates or playmates...

Chapter Eight

Nine days after Antony’s arrival, Anuse came up to him
and told him that a party was being arranged to welcome
him back. He called it “a Function.”
“Father,” he began, “I don’t think that sort of thing is
necessary…”
“It is necessary,” Anuse told him forcefully, even before the last
syllable left is lips. He had...

Chapter Nine

Antony went to visit Eru soon after he parted from Angela, a
visit which altered his opinion of Eru, at least for a while.
Eru was at home. He occupied a self-contained apartment
made up of a large parlour and a large bedroom. When Antony
entered and sat down, he was amazed...

Chapter Ten

Two nights after Angela brought the food, Antony was sitting
up, working on his writings when he heard a knock on his
door. For a while, he thought it was Eru. He answered the
knock, rose to the door and turned the knob. It was Angela. She
was dressed in her nursing...

Chapter Eleven

Anuse’s arrangement went on as planned for the party to
welcome Antony. It took place in his compound three days
after Antony had told Angela off. She had decided she would
not mention the disgrace to any of her parents, unless it really
became necessary. On his...

Chapter Twelve

With Anuse’s departure from the scene, chaos set in and
made it impossible for anybody who respected himself to
linger there much longer. It began with the scramble over
beer. It was true that they had contributed their money
wholeheartedly to come and...

Part Three

Chapter Thirteen

Three days after the welcome party fiasco, Antony wrote to
his cousin Ephraim Njikem who worked and lived in
Tetseale. He informed Ephraim that he would be coming to
Tetseale to submit an application for employment to the Ministry
of Education by the end of the...

Chapter Fourteen

The DO’s land-rover drove Antony the following morning
as far as Mbi-nzeah whence he continued to Tetseale.
Ephraim Njikem had actually been expecting him. He had
received Antony’s letter and he knew him to be a man who kept his
word strictly.
Njikem lived in that...

Chapter Fifteen

There were three main items on Antony’s programme for the
next day: he was to visit the University Library and Bookstore
to see how he could update his research, visit the Dean of
the Faculty of Arts or the Vice Chancellor and finally go to the
Ministry of National Education.
The University...

Chapter Sixteen

Antony mentioned his father’s illness and the plans he had
for evacuating him for treatment abroad to Eru and his aunt.
Eru told him it was impracticable, given his poor financial
position. His aunt told him it was unnecessary because the man
had long been counted out among the living.
He deposited his application...

Chapter Seventeen

One day Eru paid Antony one of his several surprise visits.
“I want us to visit No Man’s Land,” he said. Antony had
been working on his manuscripts.
“Where is that, and what for?” Antony asked.
“My oxygen mask,” Eru said. “I want you to meet my DIE.”
Antony knew he was...

Chapter Eighteen

Antony met Vicky one Sunday morning in church. So far,
although he thought so frequently of women and brothels,
Vicky was the only girl he had actually conversed with since
telling Angela off. Often when his thoughts turned on women, hers
was the only face and voice that gave substance to his fantasies. It
was not that he had any...

Chapter Nineteen

Any opposition from anybody concerning Antony’s marriage
to Vicky only wet to emphasize how right he was in his
decision. In fact, anything with which his people disagreed
came to be the best thing for him to do. It was not that he knew
they were right and deliberately...

Part Four

Chapter Twenty

Antony had walked into a bee-hive by marrying from the
Godsabi family, for his problems with Godsabi multiplied
with each passing day. The wedding had been originally
planned for the end of the month of July when Vicky shall have
finished her G.C.E examinations. He was beginning to have the
feeling that he had not...

Chapter Twenty-One

Eru stood by his decision. Antony, on his part, could not
withdraw the promise he had made to Vicky. He wrote to
Beckongncho cancelling the invitation along lines suggested
by Eru.
The very day that Beckongncho got the letter he left Sowa for
Likume. There he told Antony...

Chapter Twenty-Two

Antony and Vicky came too late. Pa Godsabi died an hour
before they arrived. A crowd had gathered in his compound,
but not to mourn for him. It was being said that the man had
died in his latrine while trying to force a bundle of an undisclosed
sum of money into the...

Chapter Twenty-Three

Four days after the burial of Pa Godsabi Antony was still
acutely haunted by a fear that he would become impotent.
Since the shrinking in Mulyoka, his manhood had still shown
no signs of any improvement.
For the first three following the death of the old man he had not
slept with Vicky on the...

Chapter Twenty-Four

Eru came out of his house and met Antony at the veranda
where he said immediately:
“Bo, accept my deepest sympathy for the loss of your fatherin-
law. I only heard it when it got here. It’s so bad. I never heard he
was sick at all. I know...

Chapter Twenty-Five

Antony returned home even moodier than he felt when he
left. When he entered the house Vicky came up to him to
find out why Eru wanted to see him so quickly.
“It doesn’t concern you,” he spat and went to sit down in
stony silence. It was...

Chapter Twenty-Six

Antony did not go straight to his house. He needed somebody
to be present with him when he met Vicky. Such a person
was Eru. He went to his office but he was absent. He
proceeded to his house but he was still not there. Now that he was
forced to talk to Vicky himself he...

Chapter Twenty-Seven

When Antony reached home that morning from the hospital
he forced himself to apologise to Vicky for all previous
conduct towards her. He ascribed it all to alcohol which
he said he had mistakenly taken on each of the two occasions that
he had spoken so unkindly...

Part Five

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Antony arrived at Sigili-Mundu on the 8th of October, an
unbelievable thirteen days after he left Likume. He had not
been accurately informed about the precise nature of the
journey. As if by some conspiracy all the Northerners he contacted
in Likume for information...

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Antony’s Canadian friends did not lead him to the residence
of his principal, but they took him to the park and waited
until somebody was found who could show him the way. It
was just beginning to get dark...

Chapter Thirty

Before Antony went to bed that first night he had been told
that classes began 8 o’clock every morning. At half past six
the following day he was up. Twenty minutes later he was
dressed for school. Zaché was not to appear until half-past eight.
He came out of his room in...

Chapter Thirty-One

Antony described Zaché in his dairy as “the most pernicious
little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon
the surface of the earth.” One thing was now very certain:
the two of them could not work well together. Zaché certainly had
quite a different attitude...

Chapter Thirty Two

Antony went straight to the Prefet’s office where he reported
how he had been very falsely accused and openly disgraced
by Zaché in front of his subordinates, and how he had been
driven out of the house. The Prefet received the news with very
great alarm. He wondered...

Part Six

Chapter Thirty-Three

Antony had suddenly become very forgetful. It was only when
he was on his way to Likume that he recalled he had left the
letter Eru had sent to him behind in Sigili-Mundu. He had
not taken particular note of where Eru was said...

Chapter Thirty-Four

Eru must have heard Antony’s voice, for, in spite of the
agony in which he was he called without turning to look at
the visitor:
“Bo, Antony, you were waiting for me to die before you come
down?”
“I only got your letter four days ago,” Antony said. “I did not
personally hear the radio announcement, and my Director did not
permit me to leave until last...

Chapter Thirty-Five

A nap on his way to Tetseale turned his fears into a reality.
Zaché had led Antony with the students and staff to the
prefecture on the pretext that the Prefet wanted to address
them all. There as soon as everybody had assembled he called Antony
to the front of the crowd and...

Chapter Thirty-Six

Antony went to his brother Njikem’s office. There he
explained his problem. Njikem had several connections, but
none with the Ministry of Education. Besides he had not
been impressed by the fact that Antony found nobody of value
amongst the very beautiful...

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Antony found Namnde to be very interesting. Very tall, lean
and with a hungry look on his bearded face, he wore a tie
which on his long neck looked like a rope. He spent his whole
time smoking and eating kola-nuts. He would listen to Antony talk
for a very long time without...

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Antony’s resignation letter was a strong protest and a direct
attack on Zaché as well as the Prefet. He said, for instance
that:
I put in what I considered my best and, judged by the standards
of positive achievement, I honestly have never thought there should
be any cause of regret for ever appointing me to this office. But all
my efforts have only earned...

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Antony’s excitement at meeting Mercy did not end with their
separation in Tetseale. Back in Sigili-Mundu he thought of
her constantly. She had let loose a flood of long suppressed
emotions in him, he found himself completely obsessed with
thoughts of her. Her image...

Part Eight

Chapter Forty

Antony’s dismissal as “Surveillant General,” and his
dejection at Eru’s sad state was made worse by the loss of
Argus. It came as unexpectedly as its acquisition. Less than
a fortnight after his return from Likume, he was roused from his
afternoon rest by a black cat chasing a mouse to and fro the whole
length of the roof of his...

Chapter Forty-One

The college closed down for Easter vacation in March, one
month after the death of Argus. Antony left for Tetseale
that same day. The week before he had received his long
awaited arrears – 640,000 francs. As soon as he got the money he
sent a cheque of 40,000 francs to...

Chapter Forty-Three

Antony knew before he left Atule that the Procurator and
the Commissioner had expressed doubts about the
genuineness of the news of his father’s death just to force
him to marry Mercy. He was not surprised therefore to see on his
arrival in Small-Monje that...

Chapter Forty-Five

When Antony learnt that his father had died, and that he
was being requested to be present for the funeral, he wrote
a letter to Zaché telling him why his return would be
delayed. Then he proceeded to Small Monje, only to hear that the
ceremony had been...

Chapter Forty-Six

Antony arrived at Atule on the brink of an emotional
breakdown. No amount of rationalisation would lighten the
burden of the ministerial decision. No resolution to ignore
or forget about it would suffice. It was not enough to remind himself
at every breath that within...

Part Nine

Chapter Forty-Seven

Antony arrived at the palace a little after eight o’clock the
following morning. He came alone. The DO was to come
with Mercy later at ten o’clock. His own wife had gone to
the Coast about a month before, and Antony had told him that he
did not want his people to know..

Chapter Forty-Eight

The DO abandoned the ceremony in the heat of that
confusion to pursue Antony. Antony’s rejection was not
enough, he thought. So long as he had those his manuscripts
with him, he constituted a danger to the reputation of the country.
So as soon as he heard...

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